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10 Small Business Growth Strategies for 2022

January 13, 2022 No Comments

Business leaders and entrepreneurs share their top small business growth strategies for the year ahead.

2021 has been a year of rapid transformation across all industries as the country has dealt with shifting political and economic climates, as well as mitigating hot-button issues such as climate change. In a year filled with change, there are some trends making their way into the new year that you and your business should keep an eye out for.

To lead your business in the right direction as we head into 2022, here are 10 small business growth strategies entrepreneurs recommend.

Leverage your suppliers’ new product rollouts

Distributors and businesses across the country dealt with supply chain issues with the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent economic disruptions. In 2022, businesses must be aware of scarcities within the supply chain and get ahead of manufacturing and transportation challenges by working collaboratively with their suppliers.

“We rely on supply availability and over-the-road transportation,” explained Karen Olson Beenken, president and CEO of Blue Rock Companies. “Our supply has been cut over the last 18 months to accommodate larger metro markets. We’ll utilize the different new product rollouts our suppliers offer and work to grow those.”

Educate client partners on new paradigms

It’s important to inform your clients and partners about changes you’re making to better benefit your business across a shifting economic landscape. If the changes don’t land, it may be time to consider other options, said Larry Kidd, president and CEO of hire.

“Our company is in the talent business and [is] painfully aware how much the talent pool has changed,” said Kidd. “We are working with our client partners to educate them on the new management styles, increased compensation packages and other aspects of recruitment and retention.”

Prepare for potential contracting opportunities with state and federal governments

The Census Bureau reported this past June that there were more than 4.4 million new U.S. businesses created in 2020, the highest total on record. While business creation has soared, data is showing that a large number of companies have left the state and federal government markets.

“The Department of Defense outlined at a recent conference that between 43% and 60% of the small business industrial base is no longer in the federal space,” said Padma Vatsavai, CEO at Vinformatix. “The impact [on] the small business community is due to quite a few changes in state, local and federal acquisition.

“Strategic sourcing and category management are the name of the day,” Vatsavai added. “[We’re focused on] building a strong programmatic teaming strategy so that the company can prime or sub any opportunity.”

Get creative on sales and marketing opportunities

The digital marketing landscape has become increasingly challenging due to congestion and evolving regulations, said Joe Shamess, owner of Flags of Valor.

“This is forcing many traditionally digital companies to explore other sales channels and marketing strategies,” he said.

To mitigate these challenges, Shamess said his company is getting creative with its selling methods by expanding its national retail sales channel for select products and growing the company’s Amazon sales channel for its full product catalogue.

Small business owners will now be able to bring in more specialized freelance workers to carry out tasks without having to deal with the hiring and training costs that are often associated with recruiting a full-time employee.

Eden Cheng, co-founder, PeopleFinderFree

Widen your business’s online footprint

Phil Strazzulla, founder of Select Software Reviews, explained that small businesses must adapt and be “practical” when it comes to sales, as consumers continue to favour online and mobile shopping.

“[Businesses] need to widen their online footprint to gain a significant proportion of customers from the current market,” said Strazzulla. “A simple way to sell products is to have a [seller account on] Shopify or Etsy. To sell services, … list [your company] on freelance and contract websites.”

Learn video SEO strategies to rank higher on search engines

Video marketing has become an integral part of a successful marketing strategy with the rise of live videos on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. It’s estimated that by 2022, videos will account for 82% of all consumer traffic. That’s why video SEO should be a top priority for businesses in 2022, said Leslie Gilmour, a marketer at ServisBOT.

“Small businesses that incorporate short-form videos into their website posts will see more organic traffic coming from search engines,” explained Gilmour. “As TikTok continues to grow, search engine algorithms will shift to articles and posts that include short-form videos. Short-form videos from TikTok and YouTube may even become the main point of ‘how to’ searches.”

Utilize partnership marketing to reach a broader audience

Partnership marketing is a strategic collaboration that gives you and your partner company a chance to reach a wider audience together, explained Tyler Martin, founder and certified business coach at Think Tyler.

“Collaboration with another company can aid in the development of better marketing initiatives that benefit both parties,” said Martin. “If your target clients are similar, you may pool your resources to better your marketing techniques, build your brands and expand your audience reach.”

Martin suggests starting with complimentary items or services from one company offered with a purchase from the other.

“For example, if a consumer purchases a product from you, you can provide a discount coupon that they can use to purchase discounted products from your business partner,” said Martin. “Co-branding of a product or project can also boost both companies’ marketing power.”

Consider hiring more gig workers

The number of gig workers, freelancers and contractors has grown exponentially over the last few years and they make up a large portion of workers within the current market. Eden Cheng, co-founder of PeopleFinderFree, says this share of the job market will continue to grow in 2022.

“Small business owners will now be able to bring in more specialized freelance workers to carry out tasks without having to deal with the hiring and training costs that are often associated with recruiting a full-time employee,” said Cheng. “With the importance of being agile in today’s economic environment … as well as the rise of remote work, … skilled outsourced contractors will be the key to successful business growth moving forward.”

Work with micro-influencers

While small businesses may be competing against larger businesses to work with online influencers, collaborating with micro-influencers is an option to consider, said Anton Giuroiu, architect and founder of Homesthetics.net.

“As influencer marketing is becoming more popular than ever… micro-influencers are going to be the best option for small businesses because they don’t cost as much and they are more open to collaborating with small businesses too,” explained Giuroiu. “With a couple of these small influencers helping [your business] reach specific audiences, growth will not be an impossible feat in 2022.”

Prioritize company culture

Throughout the pandemic, businesses have been dealing with “The Great Resignation” as workers are quitting their jobs at record-high rates. One of the reasons for this is that people are changing their definitions of what they consider a healthy work-life balance and what they want in a company culture, explained Amanda Ma, CEO of Innovate Marketing Group.

“The pandemic has shifted the way people incorporate work into their life, whether it’s moving to another state for cheaper housing or not going into the office every day and [getting] the opportunity to do remote or hybrid work,” Ma said. “Our agency went from full-time in-person to full-time remote to … a hybrid model. We surveyed our team members to see the model that works for us.

“Not all solutions are made equal, [and] culture is part of that,” she added. “A big factor [for employees], in addition to salary and benefits, is culture, [so have] a culture strategy in place.”

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images/fizkes

By Lauren Wingo

Sourced from CO

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6 Essential Influencer-Marketing Truths Every E-Commerce Brand Should Know

February 13, 2020 No Comments

By Lucas Miller.

More than a few companies have been burned by the wrong approach. Make sure yours isn’t one of them.

Influencer marketing is becoming a fundamental part of many e-commerce brands. In fact, in a recent survey, 92 percent of marketing agencies confirmed its effectiveness. So if nearly everyone agrees it’s important, what do e-commerce brands need to know about this hot topic so they can best take advantage?

1. Influencer marketing reaches further.

Traditional marketing channels have brought success to many companies for decades, but as times change, those channels do not reach as far as they use to. Influencer marketing is able to connect to customers on a deeper level than traditional marketing was ever able to. Even better, it’s capable of accomplishing this on a limited budget.

Customers are unlikely to pay attention to advertising that they believe to be inauthentic. They are much more likely to trust a real person over a brand. This trust is important to build, because many customers will leave a brand they believe is disingenuous.

The price tag for an influencer partnership can vary, but there are options for any budget. In the past, a company could spend millions of dollars to create an advertising campaign that connects with customers. Unless your influencer is a high-profile celebrity, you will not need that kind of cash. If you’re trying to keep costs down, there are many low-profile influencers that can be hired for a fraction of the cost of an ad campaign while still effectively bringing in customers. The ROI for influencer marketing is significantly higher than traditional marketing.

2. Influencers must be relevant.

When finding an influencer to partner with, you must find one with relevance in your industry. It doesn’t matter if a potential influencer has a million followers if their audience is not connected your products. Find someone that resonates with people who will also resonate with your brand.

One individual who certainly understands the principle of finding relevant influencers is Josh Elizetxe, founder and CEO of Snow. Elizetxe is an entrepreneur and internet advertising veteran, and during a recent email conversation about influencer marketing, he told me, “Finding the right partnership lets small companies take on big companies. It allows tiny startups to become lucrative, long-term businesses. It’s all about using the internet to your advantage.”

3. Micro-influencers reach targeted audiences.

The best strategy for using micro-influencers is to segment your customers and choose which segment you want to target, increasing the efficiency of your marketing efforts. Dunkin’ Donuts used the micro-influencer partnership strategy this past year. They also used nano-influencers, which are people with even smaller followings but high influence among that following. Dunkin’ was able to generate $300 million in coffee sales alone with this strategy by capturing the attention of younger audiences and appearing more relatable to highly targeted groups.

4. Authenticity is key.

In influencer marketing, authenticity is the number-one priority. It’s important to find influencers that truly believe in your product. Customers can see through an influencer who’s promoting a product for a paycheck. This kind of promotion won’t drive sales, and it may even give your brand a bad name.

In 2016, Bootea, a weight loss-shake brand, partnered with Scott Disick, a reality star with a large Instagram following. Unfortunately, Disick copied and pasted the instructions from the brand into his post, and his followers immediately knew the promotion was sponsored. It’s important to find an influencer who will not only appear authentic, but also be authentic.

5. Platform choice is strategic.

There are many platform options for influencer marketing, but it’s imperative to choose one that’s right for your industry and your product. You must understand what platforms your target audience is using and which people on that platform they trust.

Most brands think of Instagram when talking about influencer marketing, but any platform where you can build a large following can be a good choice. Many influencers have gained large followings through YouTube, blogging, Pinterest and, more recently, TikTok.

The most popular platforms are not your only option, though. In fact, sometimes you can reach customers more effectively through less-popular outlets with less competition.

6. Quality matters.

Younger companies, especially new e-commerce brands with small budgets, are frequently tempted into partnering with the least-expensive influencer. Be cautious when doing this, however, because the quality of an influencer’s following matters. Newer influencers sometimes are not as influential as they seem.

Impostors are one of the biggest issues businesses have encountered when looking for low-cost influencers. It’s common for aspiring influencers to buy followers, which makes them appear to have a high level of influence when they don’t. To avoid this problem, read through potential influencers’s content. If engagement levels are lower than expected, some of the followers may be fake or simply unengaged. And in e-commerce, credibility and active engagement are, quite simply, everything.

Feature Image credit: supersizer | Getty Images

By Lucas Miller

Founder of Echelon Copy LLC

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

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Tips to Develop Marketing Strategy Using Micro-influencers

August 23, 2019 No Comments

By Kevin Whalez

The concept micro-influencer marketing which has recently joined the social media scene, has the same concept as of influencer marketing, but on a smaller scale. This involves developing relationships with influential personalities to promote your brand to the influencer’s audience. But approaching just any influencer won’t drive sales — that requires a strategy.

For many businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, influencer marketing seems challenging because of the high costs involved. However, this is not the only way you can market your brand. If you can’t afford the thousands of dollars charged for a single Instagram post, you can always count on micro-influencers.

Just as the name suggests, they are influencers with a smaller audience base that range between 1000-100,000 followers on their social media profiles. The number of followers shouldn’t matter compared to what these types of influencers have to offer. Their small followers make it possible for them to engage with them directly unlike influencers with a large following.

How can you develop your marketing strategy using micro-influencers? Here are 5 tips to get you started.

1. Turn micro-influential fans to brand advocates

Influencers who already love your brand are the best type to select. If you are developing a marketing strategy and want to reap the benefits of micro-influencers, look no further than that everyday consumer who has at least 1000 followers.

It will be very easy to convince such a fan to be your brand advocate. Offering them a discount or a free product can be enough to convince them to represent your brand on social platforms. The best part is that micro influential fans are more relatable to customers than celebrities and influencers with millions of followers.

You can get started on this by monitoring your brand mentions on social media. There are many tools that you can use for social listening. You will be surprised at the long list of influential fans who are always talking about you. Use them to promote your brand among their hyper-engaged audiences.

Alternatively, you can turn that consumer who regularly interacts with your business on social media to be your brand advocate as they do on Glossier.

2. Tap into storytelling

If you have reached this far with your social media marketing strategy, probably you have come to the realization that using still photos of your product is not getting you the traffic you want to get. Instead, have your micro-influencers tell the story.

Storytelling is a powerful tool that makes potential customers associate your business with something they can relate. It taps into emotions, thus encouraging potential customers to take action. Use the superpower of stories.

Encourage your micro-influencers to tell flesh and unique stories about your brand in their own voice. Let them share their own experiences or personal stories as a testimony that relates to your brand. Such narratives resonate well with your target audience since they are relatable. Make the stories believable to gain more attention and credibility.

3. Set up a long-term campaign

In marketing campaigns, one is never enough. If your goal is to promote your brand, a one-off influencer campaign is not enough to gain your brand awareness you need. Unless you are promoting the launch of a new product, you will need to be consistent with your campaigns. Ensure the influencer posts regularly in the appropriate times and at reasonable intervals.

Hire micro-influencers on a long-term basis. When the influencer talks about your product for a long period, your target audience absorbs more information about the brand from them. It will sink in their mind better and promote brand recall as well as recognition.

Give the micro-influencers a long term contract. If it expires, renew it again for as long as they are interested. A study by Experticity found out that 82% of customers are more likely to follow recommendations made by a micro-Influencer.

4. Have your micro-influencers’ content reviewed and optimized

The effectiveness of an influencer’s content comes from how original, authentic, and natural it is. That is how they manage to get a large following on their social media profiles. Content is the king. As a brand, you have a responsibility to ensure the content posted by your micro-influencers aligns with your marketing goals and values.

With this, your brand becomes visible on other online sites that you might have never gotten an audience. You can join forces with the micro-influencers by reviewing their content before they post.

Promote such content by sharing it on your online platforms. The influencer should also return the favor by promoting your content in their profiles. However, this should be done in a smart way to avoid losing the authenticity of your micro-influencers‘ content.

5. Measure the effectiveness of the micro-influencers in real-time

Don’t use micro-Influencers in your marketing strategy with no purpose. Like any other marketing strategy, you should measure their performance using the key metrics.

You will get to know where your micro-influencers campaign strategy is working and where to put more effort. There are various tools you can use to get real-time analysis of engagement and click-through rates. You will in return increase your ROI.

Bottom line:

If you are still not utilizing influencer marketing due to the thousands of dollars you will need to invest, you are losing out on a lot. Micro-Influencers are out there promoting your competitors’ brands effectively and at very friendly rates.

With the above useful tips, you will get ahead of the game and reap the benefits of using micro-influencers. You will enjoy watching your brands’ engagement rates and conversations skyrocket. What are you waiting for? Start using micro-influencers for your marketing strategy today!

By Kevin Whalez

Kevin Whalez is a marketing specialist, business consultant, and psychologist, who investigates how to make people and organizations more effective. He is passionate about leveraging the right strategic partnerships and scaling your online influence. He is a regular contributor to PotencyUP website, as well as to various marketing and business related resources.

Sourced from The Next Scoop

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Using Micro-Influencers to Drive Business in A Local Market

June 27, 2019 No Comments

By marismith

Influencer marketing has evolved rapidly over the last few years. In fact, influencer marketing has become such a key growth strategy for businesses that the industry is estimated to reach up to $10 billion by 2020.

For a long time, influencer marketing was mostly associated with big brands and celebrities. The landscape is changing and, as individuals invest in building niche communities on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, businesses are beginning to recognize their value.

We are now seeing a new wave of micro-influencers leading the way, not only for the big brands but for small businesses looking to capitalize on the trend. 2019 Statistics show that 81% of all influencers are micro-influencers.

This has created a level playing field for small businesses with an opportunity to drive sales even in a local market.

In this article, I’m going to show you how you and your business can get started with micro-influencer marketing.

What Is A Micro-Influencer?

Just as it sounds, a micro influencer is a person that may not have the largest following on social media but the following they do have is highly engaged. This person has a lot of influence among their community and, as a result, that community is highly likely to listen and act when a value proposition is presented to them.

Eighty one percent of micro-influencers have between 15k and 100k followers but don’t let this deter you from partnering with audience sizes as little as 5000 followers. A report by Gartner L2 showed there is actually an inverse correlation between the number of followers and the engagement rate in Instagram influencers.

This highlights a critical factor in the success of micro-influencer marketing. It’s not just about the size of an influencer’s audience, the quality of the audience is just as important.

What are the benefits of working with a Micro-Influencer?

It’s A Cost-Effective Marketing Strategy

One of the biggest challenges that businesses face is finding their target audience and earning their attention. To do this exclusively in-house can be costly and extremely time-consuming. It can take months, if not years, to build an engaged audience who buys into your messaging and your product offering.

Micro-influencers have already done all the work. You have instant access to a highly-engaged, targeted audience. That’s hugely valuable especially in a local market.

While some micro-influencers still accept product in exchange for their endorsement, most now require compensation for their work.

The cost of influencer marketing varies greatly based on a number of factors including the influencer’s social reach, the type of sponsored content and the length/ frequency of your arrangement.

A report by Later (2018) stated 66% of businesses paid under $250 per influencer post, while 27% paid between $250 and $1000 per post.

Influencer Marketing Hub created an Instagram Money Calculator to help calculate how much an influencer’s post is worth. Whilst this shouldn’t be used to define an influencer’s compensation plan, it can provide a generalized overview. For the most part, micro-influencers will have their own media kits and pricing structures in place.

As a general guide, you can expect to pay anywhere between $75 and $2000 per post depending on the value that micro-influencer brings.

With that in mind, micro-influencers can be far more cost-effective than if a business were to grow organically by themselves.

Social Proof leads to Sales

Sixty one percent of consumers aged 18 to 34 have, at some point, been swayed in their decision-making by digital influencers.

Micro-influencers have already earned trust among their community. That social proof carries a lot of value when it comes to the follower making a positive buying decision.

Fullscreen, a global leader in social-first entertainment and branded content, partnered with leading social analytics firm Shareablee, to analyze 31,000 influencers. In their report, they discovered 22% of 18-34 year-olds have made a large purchase after seeing an online influencer endorsing the item. With the right micro-influencer(s) working with you, this strategy has the potential to generate large returns on your investment.

Influencer Marketing is Scalable

Micro-influencers act like your own marketing and sales team combined. They have their own audiences and they know what works in terms of engaging and converting that audience into sales. Brand campaigns driven by micro-influencers are estimated to create 60% higher engagement rates.

Micro-influencers don’t require the management of an inhouse team and they already have a community of warm leads. Deploying effective marketing campaigns and consistently generating leads are two of the biggest challenges small business owners face, which makes micro-influencers a huge asset to small businesses especially on a local level.

Influencer marketing is scalable. While it requires a financial investment, the right micro-influencers will quickly generate a return and dramatically build your brand’s awareness and reputation.

How to Get Started Working with Micro-Influencers

Getting started with micro-influencers is simple but not always easy. Here is a basic checklist for you to follow:

1. 1. Create a strategic plan with clear objectives you want to achieve.
  2. Make a list of potential micro-influencers to start exploring.
  3. Reach out to start building a relationship. Make sure your approach is very win/win as the micro-influencer may receive numerous invitations to partner with brands on a regular basis.
  4. Invite the micro-influencer to consider collaborating with your business.
  5. Draw out a written plan with clear terms and conditions to protect both parties.
  6. Set a time period initially to establish success markers.

This sounds straightforward, but it does require a lot of work and there are a few best practices to follow.

Best Practices for Micro-Influencer Marketing

1. Find Relevant Influencers

It’s really important to keep your end goal in mind when it comes to finding influencers with whom you can partner. You’re not looking for just anyone, even if they have an engaged audience. It has to be the right demographics that fit your target audience.

Positioning is key. You are looking for local influencers who have a loyal following that matches your target market.

This way, when the influencer presents your business and call to action, you are going to see some traction and a profitable return on your investment.

The easiest way to find relevant influencers is to spend time researching the platform on which you and your audience is most active. Search locations, hashtags and mentions to find out where the conversations are happening. Once you find potential micro-influencers, monitor their profile and their interactions closely. Look for the quantity but more importantly the quality of engagement on each post.

By investing time up front, you will ensure that you find micro-influencers that are a good fit for your business. Not only will it save you time long-term, it can save you a lot of money working with people who aren’t a fit and perhaps don’t carry the influence you initially thought.

2. Ensure the Authenticity of Micro-Influencers

As influencer marketing has grown, so have the number of companies looking to capitalize on the trend. In 2018, the extent of influencer fraud was exposed as thousands of accounts were found to be buying likes, follows and engagement to appear as though they had gained influencer status.

Captive8 reported that of the $2.1bn spent on influencer-sponsored Instagram posts in 2017, more than 11% of engagement on those posts was generated from fraudulent accounts.

This is a big problem. While technology companies are working to combat this by launching AI-focused tools, influencer marketing fraud still remains a huge issue.

Ninety percent of Marketers believe proving authenticity is critical to the future of Influencer Marketer.

For you, as a reputable business, it’s imperative that you do your research and establish the validity of an influencer before jumping into a relationship with them.

Monitor their account, check the quality of their audience and their engagement. Look for sponsored posts and how the traction gained in quality likes and comments.

When reaching out, ask for case studies and past results that you can cross-check. Also ensure that the micro-influencer is following FTC Guidelines.

It’s important to keep in mind that micro-influencers want to ensure the authenticity of your brand and products. Influencers promote what they trust. Take time to share with them and provide samples when appropriate. Micro-influencers have earned a loyal audience and protecting that audience is their responsibility.

3. Measuring the ROI of Micro-Influencers

One of the biggest challenges for businesses investing in micro-influencers is measuring the return on investment. As a business owner, you want to know that your marketing strategy is working and delivering results.

Eighty five percent of marketers say engagement data is the biggest metric of success for influencer marketing. Forty six percent of marketers are using product sales to measure the success of influencer marketing.

Both are valid measures. These are three key areas you want to track:

1. 1. 1. Engagement:cThis is typically measured in new followers, likes, comments, shares, mentions, and all other forms of engagement with your business as a result of working with a micro-influencer. The return here is in brand awareness and growth. You should see a spike in engagement each time the micro-influencer shares your brand. This is a simple way to visually see the impact your micro-influencer has.
    2. Content: This metric is made up of comments, shares and sentiment of the paid posts. It helps establish whether the content fits with the audience and the objective. This may be an indication to try a different type or style of content that may resonate better.
    3. Sales: You can track this by providing affiliate urls, influencer exclusive discount codes and monitoring google analytics so that you can measure the sales each micro-influencer has brought to your business.

If you’re a small business owner, micro-influencer marketing can offer a lot of value and certainly has the potential to drive big sales in your local market. It just takes the right research, the right influencer, and the right partnership.

By marismith

Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing and social media. She is a Forbes’ Top Social Media Power Influencer, author of The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Forbes recently described Mari as, “… the preeminent Facebook expert. Even Facebook asks for her help.” She is a recognized Facebook Partner; Facebook headhunted and hired Mari to lead the Boost Your Business series of live events across the US. Mari is an in-demand speaker, and travels the world to keynote and train at major events.

Her digital marketing agency provides professional speaking, training and consulting services on Facebook and Instagram marketing best practices for Fortune 500 companies, brands, SMBs and direct sales organizations. Mari is also an expert webinar and live video broadcast host, and she serves as Brand Ambassador for numerous leading global companies.

Web: Mari Smith or Twitter: @MariSmith

Sourced from Bank of America

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LinkedIn Sponsored InMail, Micro-Influencers and Blogging: A Winning Combination

May 29, 2019 No Comments

By Nick Mattar

LinkedIn’s Sponsored InMail isn’t always seen as the most effective type of outreach method, but there are ways that it can be used to great effect.

My organization hosts several events each year, focused on best practice-sharing and helping small businesses, and I recently took the lead on marketing a new event which focused on digital marketing and how companies can use it to drive their bottom line. I was ambitious and set a goal of 200 event registrations. With two months to market the event, I had some time to drive registrations using my organization’s traditional marketing channels.

The Problem

My traditional marketing playbook was simply not working. I managed to bring in approximately 15% of my event registration goal through email and organic social media, but I needed to reach more marketers – in particular, digital marketers or those who worked in the online space.

My database of contacts simply didn’t provide the target market necessary to reach my goal, and after two weeks running social media ads on Facebook and LinkedIn, my budget was nearly depleted, and my registration numbers hadn’t moved significantly.

It was clear, at this point, that I needed to take a different approach.

The Big Idea

I not only needed to reach marketers, but I needed to establish a relationship with them, and drive enough brand trust where they would feel comfortable spending money to register for my event. I wasn’t going to be able to do this alone.

My first thought was to use influencers to help spread the word. Recent studies have shown that 94% of marketers have found influencer marketing to be effective. They would help drive brand awareness, and subsequently bring in new event registrations. The ticket price was not cheap ($55) so I needed to really focus on the brand awareness aspect.

But then I thought about the specific influencers in more depth. Simply reaching out to my core digital marketing influencers wasn’t going to do the trick – I needed over 150 people, and there was nobody within a hundred-mile radius that had that kind of pull with the budget I had remaining.

This led to a new plan – aim for dozens of micro-influencers who would each be able to bring in a small handful of paid registrations.

The Implementation

I like to think of myself as a relatively well-known digital marketer, but I don’t have nearly the network required to achieve my micro-influencer goal. I needed a platform to broadcast my call for these people.

This is where LinkedIn Sponsored InMail was useful. Rather than using it for annoying sales pitches or free e-books, I was going to use it to appeal to marketers’ egos. Most marketers like to consider themselves subject matter experts in at least one area. If people were going to respond to my call for help, there needed to be something in it for them.

Thus, I would ask them to provide their expertise by writing a blog post, publishing it with a plug for my event, and then promoting it on their top social channels. In return, they would receive a free registration to the event, and then I would also promote their blog post, giving them the byline and bowing to their expertise.

I made sure my Sponsored InMail headline would catch their eyes: “Call For Digital Marketing Experts.”

I was careful to target only the most experienced and connected digital marketers. Thanks to LinkedIn’s superior ad targeting capabilities, I was able to narrow down my search to a few hundred individuals that would help me achieve my goal.

The Results

My Sponsored InMail campaign only ran for 48 hours, and resulted in 150 delivered messages. Of the 150, 70 responded and 33 eventually became official micro-influencers.

I provided each micro-influencer with a unique link to my event page so I could track the traffic they would bring in to the event site. In total, my 33 unique links led to 2,000 unique pageviews, and 160 event registrations, giving me the numbers I needed to exceed my initial goal.

The numbers may not seem overwhelming, but they’re exactly what I wanted out of my micro-influencers. I gained thousands of new users at minimal cost, while also gaining valuable content from new connections.

Final Takeaways

If you’re considering an influencer campaign, but lack the budget for big names, consider micro-influencers instead. You may need to do a call out to attract their attention, but by bringing together the right combination of people, content and promotion, you can achieve your goals.

Most businesspeople are influencers at some level – it just requires the right type of action to activate their networks.

By Nick Mattar

Follow Nick Mattar on Twitter

Sourced from Social Media Today

In News

Here’s Why You’re About to See a Lot More “Micro-Influencers” on Instagram

August 23, 2017 No Comments

Sourced from HIGHSNOBIETY

Influencer marketing on Instagram is now a billion dollar industry.

With more than 700 million people scrolling through their feed each month, prices have been hitting serious highs. According to Forbes, an account with over a million followers can earn upwards of $50k for a single sponsored post. When Buzzfeed analyzed sponsored content by the top 50 celebrities on Instagram, they found that nearly half were part of long-term brand collaborations, which can earn celebrities millions over the campaign’s lifetime.

Marketers have noticed that once an account is over a certain size, however, fewer people bother to engage. The ratio of likes and comments to followers peaks when an account has around 1,000 followers. Get more than 100,000 followers, and engagement starts to flatten out; users just aren’t as keen to interact with a celebrity as with someone they can relate to more closely.

Enter the micro-influencer: accounts with followers in the tens rather than hundreds of thousands, and usually working a particular niche. These users are reckoned to represent a more authentic and creative voice than famous influencers, and an ever-expanding set of agencies, tools and services is appearing to help them and brands get the most benefit out of each other.

Takumi, an app which matches brands with users, is vying to become a leader in the field. Co-Founder and CEO Mats Stigzelius says: “Influencer marketing is still in its early stages but will grow into a major marketing channel over the next five years. Brands are increasingly leveraging social media influencers to reach their ideal consumers more organically.”

Takumi’s founders say they wanted to replicate sharing-economy companies Uber and Airbnb. “We thought this is just obviously the way to do influencer marketing. Through real people and an efficient marketplace.”

Takumi joins agencies like Dovetale and Fohr Card which use differing degrees of automation to match and manage influencer campaigns. Other apps, such as Liketoknow.it, pay influencers based on the amount of interest they generate for the products they feature.

The bar to entry can be surprisingly low. Spread It, a Hong Kong-based start-up which offers micro-influencers in-kind rewards rather than hard cash, invites sign-ups from users who get an average of just 50 likes per post.

Previously, the route to monetizing even a large follower base was far less clear. Either businesses had to reach out to potential influencers or Instagrammers had to pitch their promotional services to brands on a case-by-case basis. Not everyone who’s good at taking photos can also sell advertising; successful marketing departments are rarely a one-person show.

Dan Chizzoniti, a menswear and fitness influencer from New York who also works for an influencer marketing agency, says these services make the experience more streamlined. “From a blogger standpoint I just have to sign up and they send me things that would work for me. They do all the heavy lifting that I would be spending hours and hours trying to do. I don’t have to worry about sifting through Instagram; I can focus on strategy and doing more for my brand.”

After years of building a following on different platforms, Dan says he earns “a few thousand dollars” a month for 10 to 15 hours spent on his Instagram each week.

As Mashable recently reported, it is still surprisingly easy to game the system using bots, fake followers and stock photos. But the industry is finding ways to weed out the scammers to satisfy their clients’ demands for authentic engagement. “A lot of these influencers don’t know that it’s coming, but brands are getting smarter and getting new tools to show who has fake followers,” says Dan.

Brands are also paying more attention to the strengths and weaknesses of each influencer, and spreading their budget across different accounts – especially important on a platform where the average user misses an estimated 70% of the posts in their feed.

All of which means that as influencer marketing professionalises and grows, you’re going to see much more #spon and #ad on your feed. The number of brand-sponsored posts – and the amount of money spent on them – is projected to double in the next two years.

Yet, not everyone is comfortable with leveraging their account to sling merch. “I’ve been offered to promote products, but it wasn’t worth the money to upload some ridiculous mirror selfie in a piece of clothing that I’d never wear,” says Mathilda, 26, a former fashion model turned photographer from Sweden with a sizable Instagram following. “It’s already hard enough to be taken seriously as a young female.”

As more start-ups and agencies enter the game, it’s reasonable to expect a lot of the cash, and recognition, to flow to influencers who are most comfortable with corporate advertising. That might be great for them, but not so great for the creativity which made the platform so appealing to brands in the first place.

Words: Michael Hornsby
Main & Featured Image: @Lironeini / Instagram

Sourced from HIGHSNOBIETY

In News

Instagram Dominance Unlikely to Let Up According to Top Influencers

April 28, 2017 No Comments

Influencer marketing is evolving and fast.

By MediaStreet staff writers.

#HASHOFF, a micro-influencer marketing platform, today released a report detailing key industry trends driving the increasing popularity and viability of influencer marketing.

To understand the changing face of influencer marketing, and gain insight into where influencers are headed, #HASHOFF surveyed hundreds of vetted influencers on its platform. The #HASHOFF platform has over 150,000 opt-in influencers who partner with brands and work hard to grow and maintain their organic audiences every day.

With 25% of internet users employing some form of ad blocking, and consumers continuing to trust word of mouth over all other forms of marketing, influencer marketing is proving to be a powerful channel for targeted marketing.

The report found that micro-influencers are emerging as a critical marketing channel for brands large and small, enabling brands to grow awareness and drive sales. Brands are increasingly relying on micro-influencers to share their brand messages, since these influencers have higher engagement rates and are perceived as more passionate, creative and authentic by audiences.

Here are just a few of the highlights from the report:

While most respondents work across multiple platforms, nearly all respondents (92%) selected Instagram as their #1 platform of focus, followed by Facebook.

The majority (56%) of influencers surveyed spend at least four hours per day on social media, and more than 20% spend 7-8 hours or more.

Nearly one-third of influencers have grown their audience by 20%-50% in the past year, while one-fourth have grown their audience by 50%-100%, and 17% have more than doubled their audiences.

Platform of choice for influencers – Last year, 80% of respondents said Instagram was #1, while this year, a full 92% cite Instagram as their top platform, a 12%-point increase. A similar number of influencers (87%) predict Instagram will remain #1 for them next year.

“The time, energy, passion and creativity that goes into each influencer post is exactly why brands choose influencers to deliver content to their communities,” said Joel Wright, President of #HASHOFF. “These numbers not only confirm the viability and strength of the micro-influencer channel, but show that brands are increasingly aware that driving authentic and organic content over this medium increases brand-consumer engagement. Creating impactful brand experiences in a crowded media market that combines targeting, analysis and brand safety is vital for brand-consumer engagement, and the #HASHOFF platform delivers all three.”

“The number of followers has no relevance in this day and age, where followers and likes can be bought,” said influencer @AlishaMarie (despite having nearly 3M Instagram followers, 2.45M Twitter followers and 1.9 YouTube subscribers herself). “Content should be king.”

“Influencer marketing grows brands,” said micro-influencer @throughjakeseyes. “Even influencers with fewer than 10K Instagram followers can still have a big impact on the brand and create ROI.”

“I love Instagram for the inspiration and creativity it offers and for the real friendships I’ve made through it!” influencer @ChrissyJPowers said.

Echoed @EdiCaves, “I love Instagram because of the community. Instagram allows me to connect with locals that I would have never met otherwise. As my following has grown, brands have begun to contact me about work.”